Whether you’re planning to be on Fort Street next Saturday during the third annual Cruisin’ Downriver, or whether you’re hoping to avoid that traffic, the rules of the road will be simple.

Law enforcement agencies, along with assistance from the contractor working on I-75, have made things as easy to understand as possible.

Rule No. 1: Anybody who wants to be at the cruise, stay off of the Downriver stretch of I-75.

Rule No. 2: Anybody who doesn’t, get on I-75.

It’s that simple.

With highway construction being suspended as of Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, anyone who wishes to get from Monroe County to Detroit, or vice versa, can use I-75. Recent signs posted to northbound drivers in southern Downriver have directed that all car traffic use an alternate route. The only existing northbound lane has been designated for truck use only.

That rule will pause for the cruise festivities, and all Detroit-bound traffic can stay on I-75. The hope is to keep as much non-cruise traffic off the cruise route, which runs along Fort Street from Sibley Road in Riverview to Southfield Road in Lincoln Park.

"Cars can stay on I-75 that day," said Sgt. John Blair of the Taylor Police Department. "The only thing we’ll be enforcing is the posted speed limits."

Likewise, anyone from outside the Downriver area who hopes to get to the cruise should stay away from using I-75, because exiting isn’t available through much of the area. From the north, it’s suggested that drivers exit the freeway at the Springfield-Fort Street exit. From the south, bring I-75 as far as Fort Street, exit, and merge right into the cruise traffic.

Rules of the road are just as simple for driving down Fort Street. As was the case last year, organizers are requesting that all non-cruise traffic stay to the left (or inside) lanes of both northbound and southbound Fort Street. The middle and right lanes, more visible to curbside cruise fans, are targeted for cruisers.

"We like to have through traffic use the left lanes," said Deputy Chief Gordon Loveday of the Lincoln Park Police Department. "It’s a state highway, so we can’t really enforce that, but we do ask that drivers leave the middle and right lanes open for the cruisers."

Just off the cruise route, Loveday said, spectators are advised to find a parking vacancy on a side street and be prepared to walk a short distance to Fort Street.

"The more cars that come right down to Fort Street, the more congestion there’s going to be," Loveday said.